Our DII Lax Preseason Top 20!!

Intro

SPEAKER_02 1:17

Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of In the Crease with Danny and Kevin, a coast-to-coast discussion of D2 Men's Lacrosse. I'm your co-host, Kevin Stenrum, and with me as always is the amazing Creskin of D2 Lacrosse, Danny Moran. Does that bring you back? Do you remember the amazing Creskin?

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Kevin, half the kids that listen to this program. Absolutely no idea of who you're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

Yes, I'm old enough to remember, unfortunately, the amazing Creskin who could do things like mind reading, which is we're in our top 20 show, Danny, and I know you're bringing it predictions.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Kevin, that was a funny, that was a funny introduction. How are you doing tonight in Northern Virginia, my friend? It's snowing here. Yeah, we're expecting some snow. As we record. We had some really, really bad weather here on the island last uh this past weekend. A lot of flooding. Fire Island, Hamptons, my neighborhood, Rockaway Beach. Wow. A lot of flooding, a lot of huge waves, beach erosion, that type of stuff. It was a rough weekend. And then tonight we're getting, I don't know, they say like one to three in the city and icy conditions. So I got that to look forward to at 4:30 tomorrow morning.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

Good on you, my friend. I'll be getting up, and uh, since I work from home, I'll maybe shoveling. I may not be shoveling.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Imposter, imposter, imposter.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

Good

Independents

SPEAKER_02 2:46

for you. Like we said, Danny, tonight is our top 20 show. But before we get there, how about we warm up our listeners with a preview of the independence?

SPEAKER_01 2:57

Yeah, we got to talk about the independence, Kev. We've done every conference, and we have two independents, and we saved the best for last now.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

That's right. That's right. So we got two. Let's start off out west again, like we did when we did our conference previews, and with that's Dominican University in California, the Penguins. The Penguins. Sammy Vogel Seidenberg. We just call him Coach Sammy because the rest of it's too difficult. They were in MCLA program since 2015, but well, prior to that, they were in NCAAD too, and the whole idea was to get them back. You remember talking to Coach Sammy. That guy is like a tireless worker. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Hey, you know what? And they got players and they're deep. They got a lot of good, a nice size roster. It's not like a new team just starting out.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

Yeah, their roster right around 50. Big advantage to some new teams coming here, just like Concordia. Kenny Siler, 30 goals, 23 assists. He returns at attack, along with Brendan Krebs, who had 26 goals, 14 assists. They lose some firepower in Maxwell Pierce, B. John Nahidi, James Walker, and Zachary Dixon. But they do have those guys coming back on offense. On the defensive side, they return their LSM Noah Gibson along with short stick D Midi Casmar Pierre. Nice name. Here's two more ones on the defensive side: Ray Sugiyama and Keenan Mai. Okay. Now they do lose Coast Boys and Joe Gurky, who's a short stick D Midi, but their goalie returns, and he was only a freshman last year, and he was Tristan Hunter. And he had a 9.5 goals against average as a freshman. Wow. That's phenomenal.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

So how many wins are you? How many wins do you predict the Penn getting this year in their inaugural?

SPEAKER_02 4:51

Well, let's let's talk about their 2024 schedule. Let's do that. Adams State, CSU Pueblo, Concordia, that's their first home game. Three. Dominican and New York. Colorado Mesa, Westminster, Lewis, Davenport.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Four and three.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

Quincy.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Four and four, four and five.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

Yeah. Meryville, Westminster again, Sonoma State, which is an MCLA, and Santa Clara, which is an MCLA. And then they finish up with Concordia. So they have a pretty big season. They could be a 500 team.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

I think they're at least a five-win team. Yeah. And I think that would be phenomenal for an inaugural season division two. And like I said, Coach And they got to travel. They got to travel too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:37

But he's a tireless worker. You remember he talked to us. He started the women's program there to get D2 back for the men. He got all that fundraising. This guy just doesn't stop, Danny.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Right. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:48

I don't think he's going to stop with this team. I've been watching them on Instagram with them posting in their uh as they're back at practice. And I just get a smile on my face because I'm like, yes, a new team coming in.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

You know, it's to get after it. There's probably a lot of excitement there, Kyle Arvine. And who do they got? First game. Who's their first game is Adam State. Oh, wow. Okay. They're going to win. They're going to beat Adam State. Adam State hasn't won a game in a while.

SPEAKER_02 6:17

Yeah, I think I Adams, I think they were one and something last year. I think Adam State will be, like I said, they did well last year in club. They got a big roster, much bigger roster than Adam State. So I think they've got the depth to be able to take it. It'll be fun to watch.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

I predict them to beat Adam State, and I predict at least a five-win, maybe a six-win season. Go get them, Coach Sammy. Go get them, Penguins. Go get them, boys.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

Okay. Now, Virginia State, the Trojans. Yeah. They don't have the luxury of being a really a club team. They were around last year, Coach Sean Church. He had their team play a couple scrimmages, more sixes, because they didn't have a lot of players there. But remember what he's doing, Danny. He's building the program and he's using it as a stepping stone for his players afterwards. Remember, he talked about creating a Black Wall Street and have his players think that they could work in these big jobs and everything. Yeah. I think that's really cool. But he still wants to build a strong lacrosse program that competes and wins as well. I mean, that's what he wants.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

Well, Coach is building a program from the ground up, and it's going to take time. It takes stones, it takes ingredients, it takes a lot of tools, it takes a lot. Kev, he's got his work cut out for him. But I think it's a great thing that Virginia State's in Division II, another HBCU, yeah, a playing lacrosse at a high level. Yep. And that's all a positive thing. And again, coach talks about his culture, but you know what? He's a competitor, man. He wants to win games. Don't get me wrong. He wants to win games. He talks about Black Wall Street, but at the end of the day, he wants to he wants to knock some asses in the dirt and come up with W's. Oh, yeah. So that's you know, because he's got great pedigree that he brings to it with Anadaga.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

Yeah, 100%. Now their roster is smaller than I thought it was going to be. I thought we talked to him. It looked like it's about 22. Now that could be wrong. It's tough. But look at the the diversity from a geographic standpoint. He's got players from Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, New York, Michigan, and Florida. There you go. That's a start.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

That's where he's starting, you know. And I wish him all the best of luck. And I wish Virginia State nothing but success. It's going to be fun to see you guys get after it this year. We're both going to try to get down to that UDC, Virginia State game.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

So let's talk about, yeah, let's talk about their schedule just to let everyone know. Because it's funny with these two, we don't just talk out of conference because they're all out of conference.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

So here's the 2024 schedule for the Trojans: Lincoln Memorial, Mars Hill, St. Thomas Aquinas, UDC, Chawan, Davis and Elkins, Dominican, Felician, Malone, Cataba, and Wheeling. So they have a 12 games, they have a 12-game season. Solid. Which is great. That's great for their inaugural season. 12 games for them under the ball. I think that's a good, and I love that. Some pretty good teams there, too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Perfect schedule for them. Yeah. With the one I highlighted, UDC. They'll take their lumps, you know, but but you know what? That UDC game, that's going to be an amazing. It's going to be historical. The first two historically black colleges to play lacrosse against each other at a higher institution in the NCAA. So that in itself is just worth the price of admission.

Top 20

SPEAKER_02 9:59

All right, Danny. Now that we've done the warm-up, it's time for the top 20. The top 20 countdown.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

2024. Wow, Kev, we're finally here.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

I know. I know.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

The In the Crease Top 20 countdown.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

And let's start it off. You talked about this off recording. Last couple years we've done this. The polls have already been out. USILA, the Nike poll of the top 20. As we record this on January 15th, they are not out. So not that we usually use that. I use that something as a barometer, but a lot of times I didn't really agree with what they did, but they're not out. And let's also remind our listeners that you and I have not talked about this. We both do our top 20 independently. And then we share them for the first time while we record.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Yeah, this is one of my favorite episodes of In the Crease that we do, Kev. I like this one. Yeah, and you're right. Usually, you know, um USILA and all of those other ones have usually put out their preseason poll at this point, but they haven't as of this date. But uh it's time for us to get to it, man. It's uh it's I know I think we we're better at that than those guys.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

We'll see. We'll see. But here's what's interesting also. Last year you and I were pretty close to each other. When we run down the top 20, there maybe was one or two that you had in that I didn't have in, and we were pretty close on where they were ranked. I think this year we may diverge a bit between you and me. I have we've been saying for the last two seasons, Danny, last two previews we've done on the conferences, that there's so many teams that we see improvement on, and they may take over some of the usual sub suspects, some of the big boys. My top 20 bears that out this year. I was shocked when I completed it. I was actually shocked. I was like, wait a minute, where's so-and-so? Where's so-and-so? And I am probably gonna have a lot of haters out there. This isn't easy.

SPEAKER_03 12:21

It is not easy.

SPEAKER_02 12:23

I had eight or nine teams that are not in the top 20 that I could have placed that just for one minor detail or another, I think, okay, they're outside the top 20. But I could be totally wrong. I left them out for those reasons. But the margin between these teams this year, Danny, I think is razor thin.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

I agree with you. And you know what, Kevin? You and I have really done our homework this year. We've really gotten to know the head coaches. Um, they've we've earned their trust, and um they give us information, they tell us who's coming back, and that kind of stuff. And we do our conference previews. You know, you and I are really got our our ear to the rail. And this year, I think we have it more than others. I think we're really dialed in this year. I that's just my opinion. Uh, just one guy talking here. Yeah. But I think I think we're really dialed in this year. I mean, like I said, I think the coaches we've earned their trust with us, and they know that we we're we're doing good things for division two, number one. But you know what? We're not so bad. We're we're pretty good at the end.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

And let's let's face facts. This is preseason, right? Right. This is this is uh bragging rights in the men's room. That's about it. That that that we're we're good for on this preseason, but it is fun. So last two years, we went from number one to number 20. Do you want to flip it this year?

SPEAKER_01 13:46

I think that's cool. That's a cool idea. We'll flip it. We'll start with our number 20s and make our way to number one. What do you think? I like it. I like it. All right.

SPEAKER_02 13:55

Okay, here we go. You ready? You want me to give me my number 20? Go ahead, Kev. You can start it off with your number 20. My 20 is Meryville. Hmm, good one. I've got them there, they're loaded. Almost everyone is returning. They got 99% of offensive production and 96 of defensive games played coming back. They know their identity and each other. Now, if you look at theirs, they were like eight and six last year. So you think, how can they? I think because they're bringing everyone back, they make the top 20.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

That's great. That's a great call. They might even be ranked higher than that. That's that's very interesting. Yeah. All right, you ready for this? My number 20. Last year's Conference Carolinas champions, the Barton Bulldogs.

SPEAKER_02 14:43

Love it, Danny. I love that. I had them just, they're one of the teams just on the outside. I kept on looking back and forth. They lose Mark Crawford and Mason Cheney. Two big scores, but they've got Matt Calary coming back. They've got, and the coaches have emailed us. They've got a lot of people coming back that can do it. That is a good call. I like that one. There we go. All right. Who do you have at 19?

SPEAKER_01 15:10

19 from the Peach Belt, the land of Bearcats.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

Another one, Danny. That's I that's a good call.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

I think they're a tough team. They're deep. They're they're got a big roster. They play good lacrosse. They were ranked last year. They they they're they're a nuisance team. Um, I think they're gonna be one of those teams that breaks into the top 20 and might stay there this year, Kev.

SPEAKER_02 15:36

I did not have them in my top 20, but I I totally agree with you. Like, that's how close it was for me. Barton and Lander and several others are like, I went back and forth for days. Putting him in, taking him out, putting him in. My number 19. This is one of the guys that was a big dog for a while. Florida Southern. Wow. They lose Sean Nolan and Jay Minor, but their D is strong, and they have a huge roster of like 75. So I think they're still in the mix. It was tough for me to take them out of the top 20. But I lander or Barton could be in there, and Florida Southern could be out. That's how close it was for me.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Florida Southern's a great team. They're definitely gonna be in the top 20. I have them a little higher. Yeah. Okay. All right. Okay. At number 18, the Newberry Wolves. Uh out of the sack. I think they're gonna be in the top 20 to start the season, and I wouldn't be surprised to see this team work their way up as the season goes on.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

I've got Newberry a little bit higher. My 18 is another sack team, and that's Anderson. I put these two teams, Anderson and Newberry neck and neck, and I say neck and neck, there's teams in between them when I've got them ranked here, but they're that close. I think the difference is they're both stacked with players coming back. I just want to see how Anderson, how much in sync they have gotten with their offense without Cam Weeks.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Well, Kev, I don't have Anderson in my top 20. There you go. They've they would have probably been 21 if I would have done top 25. I would probably put Anderson at 21. I think losing Cam Weeks is big for them. I think that's a big part of their offensive identity. I'm good, you know what? Coach Mitchell does a really good job there at Anderson, and they got some really good players there. Um, I wouldn't be surprised to see Anderson break that top 20 in the first couple of weeks of the season.

SPEAKER_02 17:46

Yeah, that's what I'm telling you, Danny. Razor thin. Razor thin. Okay, here's my 17, which I think will surprise you. Mercy.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

Oh that doesn't surprise me at all.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

They lose so much. Kiernan, umano, kipnis, gibbons, higgins, fitzgerald. Yeah, a lot of a lot of guys. They like I can't take them out of the top 20. They're too good. They've got uh they still have good players coming back. But I think that's why they when I talk about big boys dropping down and other ones coming up, this is one that really, really hit me was Mercy at 17.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

So you you have Mercy at 17, I have him at 16. So we're right there. We're right there on that one. Uh again, too much firepower on the offensive side, lost. Although, you know, they do bring TJ Hyder and Justin Gerville and a very stout defense, very stout defense. You know what? They're gonna be a tough team. I just don't know if they're a top 10 team to begin the season.

SPEAKER_02 18:52

Let's see how they do in the first couple of weeks. I'm sure we'll get some DMs from Justin and TJ giving us brief, as they should. That's all right. That's all right. We can take them.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

We're bigger. Give them some bulletin board, Fonda. That's right. At 17, Kev, I have to pay setters. 11-4 last year, 7-3 in the NE 10. They lose Ragusa, they lose Capito. Yeah, I mean, they're still a very, very good team and very well coached team. Yeah, I just think that that that's where they are to start the season. I have them at 17.

SPEAKER_02 19:26

I I can't we have differences, but like I said, uh mine are so close when you get to here. I I see what you're saying. I went back and forth them too. I have them in there a couple uh notches higher. Who do you have at 16?

SPEAKER_01 19:40

I have mercy at 16. Oh, that's right. You have mercy. I have you indie. That doesn't surprise me at all. I got you indie a little higher than that, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:49

I have them, you know, I I've looked at uh the teams in the GLVC and I I have U Indy in between Lewis and Meryville. And I had them, you know, they lose five All-Americans, but you know Coach Stocks and Coach Grimes is gonna have them back in the hunt. And it may just take them a little bit. They they I could not believe that they were this low when I did it. Like when I got to that, I'm like, where did I put you indie? Like, that's where I was when I got to 16. Um, so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

So 16, I have mercy, 16, you have you indie. 15. Who do you got at 15? I have pace. Okay. They they lose there.

SPEAKER_02 20:29

I yeah, I agree with you who they lose, but they still had a lot of depth on O, and especially D coming back, minus the big Ragu. So it's a toss-up, but that I had him at 15. Who do you have at 15?

SPEAKER_01 20:41

I have ready for this? The Lewis Flyers coming in at 15 this year. 10 and 6 last year, but they got Braden Boyanko and Evan Clement and a really, really stacked team this year. I think they're gonna be a very, very formidable squad. So I have Lewis at 15.

SPEAKER_02 21:02

Okay. I got them a little bit higher. You'll see. It's close. My 14 is Newberry.

unknown 21:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

Now, when I now, if you look at it, Danny, I said Newberry and Anderson were neck and neck. Now go through my list. Newberry at 14, Pace 15, UND 16, Mercy 17, 18, Anderson. I had three teams in between them, and I said they were neck and neck. In my estimation, I know you had them out. That's how close when I say razor thin all these teams are to me. But the I had Newberry at 14. How about you? I have UND at 14. There you go. So that's a pretty I can't I can get that. I can see that. We're pretty right there. You went you so you went UND 14, Lewis 15?

SPEAKER_01 21:50

15, Mercy 16, Pace 17, Lander, uh Newberry 18, Lander 19, and Barton 20.

SPEAKER_02 21:58

Okay, so at 13 is Lewis. For me, okay. So I have Lewis one uh above uh Undy by a slightly ahead of them because I think it's their strongest returning team ever. They beat Undy in the tournament last year. Yeah, I kind of had to look at those little minor things, not not that that really tips them, but I just think those little things I think Lewis now can say we can take you indie.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Yeah, they've you know built a lot of confidence, but on paper, if you look at the Flyers on paper, oh yeah, they look they look damn strong. So I'm interested to see where Lewis is. Uh again, you had uh U Indy at 14. Uh uh you had uh at 13, I'm sorry. I had Lewis at 13. I have Seton Hill at 13.

SPEAKER_02 22:45

Wow. Okay, I have them much higher. I have them in the top 10.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

12 and 5, 7 and 0 in the G Mac. Um, I just want to see if they can come out ablazing. Last year, a little bit of a start, slow start, but uh let's see what happens this year with them.

SPEAKER_02 23:03

Okay, I I've got them a little bit higher than you've got. I got them at so who do you have at 12?

SPEAKER_01 23:10

I have Florida Southern at 12. Interesting. They were uh 13-5, 5-2 um in the SSC last year. Really good squad, but you know, uh they lost a couple of guys that flamence back's gonna have to like really step up and really and and do some things offensively, but they're a good team, don't you?

SPEAKER_02 23:32

You're right, and they've got offensive come offensive firepower coming back with several people. I I just looked at it like you know, Sean Nolan and Jay Minor were such key cogs the last two years. But you they these other guys could step up and just take the reins.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

That's why I have them at 12. I that's why I have them at 12. That just because they lost those two really, really good, you know, top scorers for them last year. So yeah, but again, Florida Southern is really very well coached. They're a good team, they're deep, but they open up against Wingate, so that should be a really good game. One of those games to watch.

SPEAKER_02 24:11

Good test for both teams.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 24:14

So who do you have at 12? I had Mercyhurst.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

I originally had him that you know, they actually Brent Olney appears to be back. I thought he was gone, but he's coming back as goalie. So now I'm thinking that I didn't move him back. They lose Miles Ham, they lose Sean Doran. They're still a strong team, but they've got a new coach, Keely. He's changing some things up, which actually may actually help them. I think it'll be tough to begin with. They're gonna have to get their legs underneath them with a new coach, new terminology. Now, I like we said on the podcast with Keeley, I think they're hungry for some of that because I've got they they got that bad taste in their mouth on how they lost Lenore Ryan. So I think they're gonna be hungry. And it really came down to Danny, who I had above them, why they went to 12. And I thought Seaton Hill in the G Mac had a little bit more coming back, and that's why I had Mercy Hill, Mercy Hurst at 12.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

Makes sense to me. Makes sense to me. I have Mercy Hurst a little higher, though. Yeah, okay. You know, just because you know, they're coming off a great season. They still have players there. I mean, they lost a lot of key players, but you know, new coach, new look. We'll see. We'll see about Mercy Hearst. We'll talk about them a little bit more. Um, yeah. At 11, I had Frostburg State.

SPEAKER_02 25:32

Ding, ding, ding, Danny.

SPEAKER_01 25:35

There you go, man. Frostburg State. Number one. So now now these top, these next schools are, you know, it gets difficult to really place these next bunch of. You know, that that that second group of 10 right there, from 11 down to 11 down for me. Who'd you have at 11? Frostburg State. Okay, you have Frostburg too. Okay. So from 11 up, who do you have?

SPEAKER_02 25:59

You have Frostburg, Mercyhurst, Lewis, Newberry, Pace, Undy, Mercy, Anderson, Florida Southern, and Meryville.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

Wow, I can't believe that we were only off by like two. At 11, I have Frostburg. At 12, I have Florida Southern. 13, I have Seton Hill, 14, UIndy. I have Lewis at 15. I have Mercy at 16, Pace at 17, and uh the last three, 18, 19, 20, Newberry, uh, Newberry, Lander, and Barton. Yeah. So we're pretty close, bro.

SPEAKER_02 26:36

No, and I love your list. I love your list. And I'll tell you, Florida, Rosburg State. I put them in 11. They may have gone higher. They're loaded for bear this year, but they just have not been there yet from a sustaining on the big stage. They beat a team like you know, Tampa, and then they have a loss. And they, but they were still great last year. And I think they're they're all coming back. I just couldn't put them in that top 10 because of they. We gotta, I gotta see it sustained. And they could do that this year.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

Yeah, I'm not sure they're a top 10 team yet, but they have the ingredients to break that top 10 and make some serious noise this year. Yeah, you know, another year wiser, another year for those boys under Gardelman. And just, you know, he's got a good program going on out there. Who do you have at 10? All right, this was tough, man. Yeah, I I have 10 and 9 could have flipped and flopped if you asked me.

SPEAKER_02 27:31

My 10 and 9 flipped and flopped today. All right, I have Bentley at 10. I used to have Bentley at 10. I have Tampa at 10. Well, so I have Tampa at 9. That is what I literally changed it. I looked at, I, and here's what I wrote for both teams. Tampa lose some offensive firepower and Blake Ulmer. But I can't keep them out of the top 10. I can't keep them out of the top 10. They're like Le Moyne last year. And at Bentley, I said, not losing much on defense or offense. I think they'll be really strong again this year. And I so I had them flip the other way, but I thought, you know, if Bentley's not really losing anyone, I'm gonna put them at nine and put Tampa 10. But I I literally, Danny, you and I had exactly the same thing about 12 hours ago.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

You know, I'm telling you, I I I could easily put Bentley at nine and Tampa at 10. Again, it's tough to keep Tampa out of the top 10. JB is gonna have his players there. They're gonna play top-notch lacrosse, you know that. Just don't know, you know, without Danny Fitzpatrick, without McAnaney, without Homer, you know, they still have Bito there, locking down guys on defense. You know, they still got a strong, strong squad, favorable kind of uh schedule this year for Tampa, but they do play some big boys. So, but I got Bentley at 10 and Tampa at nine.

SPEAKER_02 28:56

Okay, so here's my number eight. This is where Seton Hill comes in for me, is at eight at eight. I've got them, I've got them loaded at attack and midi. The only question to me is goalie, and so that's why I had them so high and above working hearts this year.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

Yeah, that makes sense. I got Colorado Mesa at eight. I've got them at seven. Okay. So so in the beginning, you said we think we might have differed a little bit. I don't think we've differed that much at all, man. So yeah, I got I got Colorado Mesa at eight. I think they're a strong squad. Yeah, I think they're loaded for bear.

SPEAKER_02 29:38

I think they're six scores return.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

Yeah, I think they have uh a little chip on their shoulder for not getting in the NCAA's. I think uh coach does a really good job out there. They have to travel. These guys are sharpened iron, these guys are warriors out there, the Colorado Mesa. Yeah, they're gonna be a tough out. So I got them at number eight. Okay. So who do you have at seven? The Mercyhurst Lakers. That's who I have at seven. Okay. Wow. I still think they're gonna be a really, really good team. You know, I just don't know if they're a top five this year to start out. I think they're gonna be phenomenal, actually. I think, you know, I think Coach Cayley has got a lot of really good players to play with. And it's it's Mercyhurst, Laker, lacrosse. It's gonna be top-notch.

SPEAKER_02 30:27

So I'm with you there. It's Mercyhurst, Laker, lacrosse, and they're gonna be there. I would not be surprised at all if they they they go up in the top ten very quickly in in my book, or if in the rankings anyway. I didn't have them there. I can see why you did. I can see your reasoning. Who do you have at seven? I Colorado Mesa, I had at seven. Oh, that's okay. Colorado Mesa.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

So me and you were like really, really close.

SPEAKER_02 30:56

Okay, but the numbers of Tampa Bentley, Frostburg, we're kind of close to that. We are, we are at six. I had a Delphi.

SPEAKER_01 31:04

Very, very interesting. Uh, I I have St. A's at six. I have Saint A's at five. And I have a Delphi at five. These two are close. Yeah, they're really. I'm gonna give a Delphi the edge. The only reason why I give a Delphi the edge is because they just seem to reload every year. They're so deep at the midfield. They have Dylan Renner coming back in goal at 63%. That's the only reason why I gave the edge to a Delphi at the fifth. But St. A's, 10 and 5, 7 and 3, a good number of guys coming back, a well-coached team. Um, deep, strong, fast, aggressive on defense. They, you know, they have some All-Americans on D, man, at St. A's. And I just think they are a really, really formidable squad this year.

SPEAKER_02 31:58

I I hear you. I had them at five and the Delphi at six. And St. A's just above them by a second because I think this is St. A's year based on who they have in the NE 10 conference.

SPEAKER_01 32:14

I agree with you. They're gonna be tough in the NE 10, man. They're they're gonna be tough. I'm gonna be watching St. A strong this year. I think they're a team that can really make a lot of noise quickly. They're good.

SPEAKER_02 32:28

So there you go. There's our five and six. I went St. A's at Delphi, you went at Delphi St. A's. Now I'm gonna tell you right now, Danny, this the top four, I could have listed. I broke them out, and this is my listing, but I could have had them one A, one B, one C, and one D because of how close they are. I mean, I think it's all on paper. It's all on paper on who goes where. My number four is Wingate. Wow! And here's why, Danny. Here is why. I think on paper they may be the strongest of the top four. They're stacked on offense and they're stacked on defense. But they have to prove to me that they can finish a season.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

I hear you. I hear you, Kev. They were really close last year. Yeah. And just didn't finish the job, you know, for whatever reason. At number four, I have the Rollins Tars. I gotcha. Great squad, 15-2, 7-0 in Sunshine State Conference last year. Went to the NCAAs. They had a lot of great players. They're deep, they're strong. Uh Ketchadorian comes back in goal. Berkman, they got a bunch of great players there. I think they're going to be super duper formidable. I like their defense last year. You know, let's see what happens if they can keep that up, if they can keep keep things going.

SPEAKER_02 34:05

They've got their stack. They have a little bit younger defense due to some injuries this year. And I could tell you, I have them higher, but I hear your reasoning.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

I still think that Rollins is on the younger side, still trying to almost get there. You know, like they're so close. They're so close. Like just they could have been in top three. They could have been a top two. I mean, they're that good.

SPEAKER_02 34:29

The difference between them and maybe a limestone or a wing gate is they have to believe that they can go all the way. Yep. And I think they do believe that. And I talked to some of the players when I was down there during their alumni game, right? Uh when I was down there in November. And they have a bad taste in their mouth for how they played against LR in the NCAAs. And I think that's gonna fuel them. That's why one of the reasons why I had them hire. But I will get to that. So at four, that's a good one. Like I said, at three, I have limestone.

SPEAKER_01 35:10

I have limestone at three.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

Only key loss, and this is the difference between limestone and wingate. Only key loss for limestone that I can see is their LSM Noah Reed. And if you go back to last year, well, go back for years and years. Here's a team that knows what they can do. Yeah, they won the sack last year and they went to the final four.

SPEAKER_01 35:35

Yeah, they're good, man. They're a really, really, really, really good squad. Cap just about everybody comes back. Zach Turdy and Mike McGowan. Oh my gosh. And some really, really formidable guys. Corey Lyons and Ned. Yeah. Formidable defense, yes. Absolutely. So limestone, they could be one, one B, one A. They could be one of those. You know, like you said, the 1A, 1B, 1C. You're right. These teams, they're that good. These are the elites now, I think. You know, you're getting into the elite squad. Yeah. Yeah. You know. All right. So number three, we both have limestone.

SPEAKER_02 36:15

At number two, I have Rollins at number two. And I have the Wingate Bulldogs at number two.

SPEAKER_01 36:22

So we we flip two and four, you and me. Right. So that means we both agree on number one. Yeah. Lenore Ryan. Yeah, Lenore Ryan, you know, the Bears, the national champs. They're loaded for Bear. They lost a couple of.

SPEAKER_02 36:38

They they have they are they are stat. Here's what I wrote from my note because I went back and forth whether they should be number one, to be honest. Because they lost some key offensive talent. Me too. I did the same thing. Torrin Eccleston, Miles Moffitt, Bryce Reese. A lot. Riley say. But they got guys in the wings on offense, and they are stacked on defense. And if you remember in the NCAA final, their defense created like their first five goals for them on offense.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

Yeah, yeah. Their defense is great. I mean, Coach Paradine, they've been there twice out of the last three years. The Bears, the Lenore Ryan, they're the national champs. Until, you know, until somebody can knock them off, they have to be number one. But I have to say that I think Wingate and Limestone are so close. Like, you know, 1A, 1B, 1C, and like even Rollins in there, 1D. Those teams, I think Wingate, you know, they bring everybody back.

unknown 37:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:45

They bring everybody back.

SPEAKER_02 37:47

Except for Japone, but then they have Thomas Sullivan.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

Yeah, but they they bring in back five All-Americans. You know, LR's losing all Americans. Yeah. You know, Limestone's bringing back all Americans. Oh, yeah. You know, Rollins got a couple of and so is Rollins. Rollins bringing back all the time. Justin Eisenhower. Right. You know, a Delphi bringing back All Americans and Steinbeck and Dylan Renner. And, you know, a St. A's bringing back, you know, All Americans. So like those top five, six teams, Kev, they're I LR number one, Wingate number two, limestone, man. I mean, you could flip those two. I think they're that close. Rollins, Delphi, St. A's, and then again, Mercyhurst, Colorado, Mesa, Tampa, and Bentley.

SPEAKER_02 38:39

That's who I round up my top 10. Okay, and just to remind everyone, my top 10, and I love your list. Mine went Lenore Ryan, Rollins, Limestone at three, Wingate four, then St. A's at Delphi, Colorado Mesa at seven, Seaton Hill at eight. And then I flipped the last two, then from you, Bentley and Tampa, nine and ten.

SPEAKER_01 39:00

So, listeners, you can start the hate mail now. I know there's some of you guys out there saying, Why aren't we in there? We should be in there. And how come they have us so back in the back depths? And you know what? It's just a bunch of knuckleheads having a good time in the winter because there's nothing else better to do because it's like snowing outside.

SPEAKER_02 39:21

And it's it was fun, not easy to do, but a lot of fun putting together.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

Oh, and a lot of fun talking about. But you know what? You know, Kev, you and I were pretty close again, man. I was surprised how close we were. Surprisingly. Again, you know what? I think we got our ear to the rail, and you know, I think I think we're kind of pretty spot on with this. I'll be excited to see the the preseason polls and compare ours to theirs.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

Yeah, I am too. It'd be interesting to see, you know, I think our intel with the help of coaches and talking to some of the players sometimes may be a little bit better. I also use lacrosse reference, the things coming out, but they come drop in some stuff on D2 about the different rosters, and I use that almost as a reference of like, oh, what does that still make sense of where I put Mercyhurst or I put Seaton Hill or I put Frostburg? And it kind of did like it matched up, so it was it was really, really good. That was the lacrosse reference is the one that told me Brent only was coming back. And we said in our preview that he wasn't coming back, and then I went back to their roster for 2024, and he's back in there as a graduate. So it helped me out in a little of those things, and it was really good. And and this has been a lot of fun, yeah, tons of fun.

SPEAKER_01 40:42

One of my favorite episodes for sure. We'll be we'll be getting darts sent to us this week. We're only a week away from the first game, guys. So you know what? That's a lot of fun. Hope you guys enjoyed the top 20 as much as we did.

Players to Watch

SPEAKER_02 40:57

Okay, we're not done yet, Danny. You came up with a great bonus for this episode. Do you want to explain it?

SPEAKER_01 41:06

Yeah, Kevin, you know what? We're all about the teams, but you know what? The players make up the teams. You know what I'm saying? It's these kids that work hard, and you know, they they deserve the accolades. And you know what? I thought I just thought it was a good idea that maybe this year, preseason, we come up with players to watch this season. I like it.

SPEAKER_02 41:27

I like it. Now let's let's talk about this. That is all you and I discussed. We didn't talk about criteria, how do we go about doing it? I went a little bit different route. Do you want me to go first, or you want to go first?

SPEAKER_01 41:39

Yeah, you can go first, but that's interesting because you're right. We didn't have any criteria. We didn't say this, that, or the other thing.

SPEAKER_02 41:45

Now, our top the top 20 teams, there's a criteria for that, but we don't talk about it. And we didn't really say how we were going to look at how do you look at it? Is it by just pure stats, or what do you want to do? So I decided not to go for the obvious ones the Shahe Cachidurians, the Kyle Steinbach, who we learned was coming back, right? Delphi, or the Willie Greco's. I looked at it who could be up and coming from maybe freshman sophomore year, or maybe someone who's sustained some excellence, but I really want to see what they do and watch them play this year. And there's a few guys like that that I'll point out. That's kind of where I got mine from.

SPEAKER_01 42:24

And and mine was just like good players on teams that, you know, did okay or maybe not did okay, just you know, younger players or guys that were just maybe not in the spotlight, that are really, really good players and and and do a lot of good things on the field. And then we don't talk about too much, you know what I mean? Yeah, we we do we do talk about the Willie Grecos and the Victor Powell's of the world, you know, and but you know, I gotta admit, I put a couple of those guys on there because they are players to watch, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:58

Yeah, 100%, Danny. 100%. It's it's tough. We would be doing this probably all day if we wanted to go down, right?

SPEAKER_01 43:04

Right, right. But no, so so who'd you got? Who do you have first? Like what would what was your first thought? Like just guys off the top of your head.

SPEAKER_02 43:11

Yeah, so um, I don't know if you just want me to go down my list, then we'll go to yours. Does that sound good? Like we'll just quickly okay, yeah. So here's my list. First guy, and this is in no particular order, it's almost like what came to my head, okay? Thomas Kofad, LSM Malloy. Ding ding.

SPEAKER_01 43:29

Oh, you got him too? I do have Thomas on there. I really do.

SPEAKER_02 43:35

He was only a freshman last year with 78 ground balls, 36 cost tune hours. He is quick and all over the field. I just want to see what he does this year.

SPEAKER_01 43:43

Thomas Koford, the kid, you know, he was ECC rookie of the year. He was all region as a freshman. He just like he 78 ground balls, Kev. That's just like he's a freshman. He was a freshman. He's just, you know what? Offense is a gonna. Have to deal with him and good luck. Yeah. So yeah, Thomas Kofer from Alloy, I had him too.

SPEAKER_02 44:05

Okay, here's my number two. See if you've got this guy too. Zach Samarjasso from Malone, MIDI. Yeah, he's pretty good, right? GMAC freshman of the year. I could have gone with Talon Heath. Now he's a he's gonna be a junior this year. He was a sophomore last year. I could have gone with him, but I decided to go with Zach because you know we had talent on the on the show. So that was one reason. Like, okay, I can't say talent. And Zach had such a good year. Let's see what he can do as his sophomore year as Malone continues to build.

SPEAKER_01 44:39

That's excellent. That's an excellent choice.

SPEAKER_02 44:42

Okay, my next one. Baden Poyenko, Zack for Lewis. Danny, he did not play six games last year and still was a number one point getter for their team. Yeah, he's a he's a baller. He is the main piece for their run this year on the offense, I think. And that's what I want. That's what I'm interested in. He's not a freshman or sophomore. He's a he's an experienced senior player, but I just want to see what he does, right? That's just one of those guys. Next guy on my list, Vincent Burkhart, goalkeeper for Georgian Court. We talked about him. He had 234 saves last year, 56% save percentage. He's 6'5, Danny. He's big. Yeah. But he's quick on his feet and soft hands. He's he's the next Shahe catch during, although he's not as stocky as Shahe, right? He is fun to watch. He was only a freshman last year. Here's another one that's more experienced player. Hayden Moffitt attacked North Greenville.

SPEAKER_01 45:43

Yeah. He's got the DNA, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_02 45:47

That's the whole thing. We talked about the battle of the Moffat brothers when Lenore Ryan played North Greenville two years ago. Right. When Hayden was a freshman. Miles is now coaching, and Thomas Asari, their number one goal scorer at North Greenville, is gone. I want to see my question is what does Hayden do coming from out of those shadows? His brother and Thomas Aseri. I think he's going to have a good year.

SPEAKER_01 46:12

Interesting, Kev. Good, man. You've been digging in. Good for you.

SPEAKER_02 46:15

Yeah. Now, here's the next one. Here's one. I just was shocked when I saw his stats, and I just feel he needs a shout out and be watched. Ben Sonan, a defender from Young Harris.

SPEAKER_01 46:28

Yeah, he's he's pretty darn good.

SPEAKER_02 46:30

61 ground balls, 46 cost turnovers, just a sophomore last year. What can he do as a leader now to improve their defense and get some more W's?

SPEAKER_01 46:40

Oh man. Another good good call, Kev. Okay, you may have this one. You may have this one on your list. I should have a fire engine uh noise here, man.

SPEAKER_02 46:52

This is what's I'll tell you what. This was fun trying to figure out. It was a lot of fun. You're leaving guys off, but this was just a fun list. Evan Voss attacked Lenore Ryan. Yeah, man. Number he was number three scorer last year, but number one and number two, oh, number one and number two are three are gone this year. Miles and Torn Eccleston. I think he will emerge even more this year.

SPEAKER_01 47:20

Probably right. I think he's gonna have a big part in that offense. Yeah, yeah. You know, I think you know, Kanada's still there, too, but Evan's a really good player. He's been there a couple years now.

SPEAKER_02 47:30

And you know I'm interested to see what he brings. Next guy. Another defender from Newberry, Jack Travassos. 59 ground balls, 28 cost turnovers, only a junior. What mark does he make this year as the anchor of that defense?

SPEAKER_01 47:48

Yeah, offense is gonna have to watch out for him, too.

SPEAKER_02 47:51

Yeah, yeah, he is good. This guy you may have on. Raiden Badrone, attack of Anderson. Yeah, I got him on my list. Yeah. Third team all sack. He was the sack rookie of the year, and honorable mention all south. Watch out for this guy this year. He just improved, improved every game, it seemed like six goals, 19 assists as a freshman. Okay, you're gonna love my next one. This where I'm getting down to the bottom. This is my this is Thomas Nealan attack St. Leo. You would think I would have picked, you would have think I would have picked Sunshine State Conference freshman of the year from the same team, Greg Palmer. But Thomas worked his way up in that lineup last year. So I want to see what he does this year.

SPEAKER_01 48:44

You know, I am so happy that you put him on that list because he is a really good player. And when we had Coach Jergensen on, Coach Jergensen said, you know, this kid, you know, didn't get a lot of playtime at the high school level, but you know, he saw him and he saw something in him, and he said, I gotta get this kid onto the field. And once Thomas hit the field, man, he just took off. And he's a finisher, he loves being around the net, he loves being in front and getting those dishes and and and and quick quick sticking stuff into the net. He's a really good player. And you know what? St. Leo's gonna be a good team this year, and and Thomas is gonna be a big part of that offense.

SPEAKER_02 49:25

Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_01 49:26

I agree.

SPEAKER_02 49:27

It'll be fun to see what he does this year. Okay, I've got two special categories, two left. Here's the first one. It's not a player, it's a group. You you coined them the Wingate freshman Fab Five. Between them, Danny, last year, 96 points.

SPEAKER_03 49:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:48

But they were all freshmen last year. No one is gonna take it for granted this year. How much can they stack up this year? I think they're gonna do well, but it's it uh it'll be fun to watch how they improve this year.

SPEAKER_01 50:02

Man, that's that's you're that's a great one. You know, those those kids were were great on a really good team as freshmen. And you know how I say it, if I said it once, I said a million times, those freshmen come in and sophomores, they're bigger, they're stronger, they're faster.

SPEAKER_02 50:18

You know, I uh they just they get good news for those guys is it's not just one where now the opposing defenses can just, you know, double team one guy, you know, always slide to that guy because you also still have Willie and Danny. So yeah, it's if they're smart and they share the rock, they're all gonna do well. Yep, that's a good one, Kev. Good one. Here's my last one. And this is my favorite player to watch in 2024 because he's my favorite player. Evan Deere, short stick, D Mitty, Frostburg. There you go. I told you last year when I went to the game when they played played at Hopkins, right? Right. I'm up in the stands and I'm looking down at this kid. Yeah, and I go, he looks really short, and he's actually tapping guys on the helmet, but he's reaching up to tap guys on the helmet. But then you see him play, he does it all for them. And he's small, but he packs a punch and he never backs down. This kid, before every game, does a backflip to get his team going in pregame.

SPEAKER_01 51:28

Good choice, Kev. I know you like him, man. He's good, he's really good. He's only five three.

SPEAKER_02 51:32

He just he is so much fun to watch on the field.

SPEAKER_01 51:35

Yeah, he's a baller, man. He doesn't play like 5'3. He comes at you like a like a wild boar. He's a tough kid, man.

SPEAKER_02 51:42

That's then when we had a you know, we try to get him on the podcast with some other players, and we had the Frostburg players, and he couldn't come on because he's got some series, you know, his major, he's like, he's got tests and everything else. He's like, okay. So that's the other, you I gotta respect that guy. He's like, no, I gotta, I gotta study.

SPEAKER_01 51:59

Wow. Either that or that's from his public relations team to make him look real good. No, that's a great, that's a great list, Kev. I like that list. And you gave some love to short stick D mids, which a lot, yeah, a lot of people give love to the short stick D mids. Yeah, so that's a really good list. So all right, how excited for yours? Okay. I did it in like kind of like groups, like a couple of face-off kids, a couple of goalies, a couple of defensemen, a couple of short stick D Mids, and some young guns and stuff like that. So that's how I did it. So the first thing I did was faceoffs, you know, because I think face-offs are important at the NCAA game. Yeah, and and you know, getting getting possession of uh of the ball is important. So my first guy on the face-off list is uh Jason Cuny, Cooner, the senior from Mercy. 66% on 302 face-offs, he won 199. He was second team All-American last year. So Jason Cooner's got to watch for Mercy. Yeah they lost a lot of offensive power on Mercy. So they're gonna need him. I think he's gonna be an important part. That's a good one. We're gonna have to watch him. Uh, my next guy is Jacob Chiz, the sophomore from Florida Southern. Good one. He's just good man, and he's young, and he's just, you know, he was at 54% as a freshman last year, just you know, on a good team that was ranked. I just think that he's a young kid that's coming into his own. And I think with another year under his belt, I think he might be tough and really good for Florida Southern.

SPEAKER_02 53:38

Before we got on the podcast tonight, I watched on YouTube D2 Lacks updates, and I watched the highlight reel from Anderson against Florida Southern. Cam Weeks against Jacob Ciz. Jacob held his own. Yeah. And Cam Weeks was healthy in that game. He Cam Weeks scored like three goals in that game. He was totally healthy. So he will be someone to watch. You're right.

SPEAKER_01 54:04

Yeah, and another one um on the face-off is Tim Ladner, the senior from Limestone. I think he's a good face-off guy. He was at 63% last year, Kev. You know, give give limestone another reason to have the ball, and they're just gonna be tough. And I think it all I think it all starts with Timmy Ladner there. So those are three face-off guys I like that we should watch. A couple of goalies, all right? My first goalie is Austin Jones, the senior from Chestnut Hill. Love it. I love that call. We don't talk about those guys very much. He had 170 saves against 269 shots at a 63% save percentage, which is phenomenal. Any coach will take that any day. Oh, yeah. So Austin Jones from Chestnut Hill, another really good one. And these are two big boys, okay? Uh Rob Pensabeni from LR, 60, 61% last year, did a really, really good job for the Bears. I think he's gonna be an important part of the Bears this year. 100%. I think the Bears are gonna have to rely on their defense a little bit more. I think their offense has taken a little hit, losing 181 goals. You know, that's a lot of points that they're losing on the offensive side. So I think they're gonna rely on that stout defense. And I think Pensa Benny is they're they're gonna need a lot out of him this year. And uh, and my man Dylan Renner, this the senior from Delphi, um, out of 346 shots he faced, Kev, and that's a lot of shots. He saved 206 of them. He was a second-team All-American. And again, I think he's gonna be important for Delphi on the defensive side. Yeah, he's their anchor. Yeah, he's good. Um, okay, a couple of defensemen. All right. Uh, my first guy is Mike Jensen out of Coker. Okay. Ah 6'3, 190-pound junior. He's from Woodstock, Georgia. In 15 games, Kev, he had 52 cause turnovers.

SPEAKER_02 56:15

Holy moly.

SPEAKER_01 56:17

Yeah, he's a tough kid, man. And he and he's sitting there for the cobras, man. So if when you play coker, better find Mr. Jensen and find out where he is on the field because he's gonna chances are he's gonna get the ball from you. Yeah. Okay. Another one, uh, Nick Shannon, the 6'2, 190-pound graduate from Florida Southern. Okay. Yeah. In 18 games, Kev, he had 54 cause turnovers. Another one that's just yeah, you know, don't go near him. He's gonna take the ball away from you. He was an all-American honorable mention, third team all South Region, second team all Sunshine State Conference. He he he's a he's a he's a beast. And, you know, again, we we spoke about Thomas Coford, which I think is great that we both had the list. Um, Justin Gerdville, man amongst man amongst boys, Kev. Yeah, man amongst boys, the LSM graduate from Mercy, uh, 17 games last year, 41 cross turnovers, first team All American, first team all region, first team all ECC, ECC defenseman of the year, and a three-time All-American. Are you kidding me? He's a man amongst boys. So better better find Mr. Gardville when you're on the offensive side of the ball, fellas. Okay. Um, and the last guy I have on defense, on the defensive side here is Ryan Slattery from St. A's, okay? Six foot, 185 pounders. You know what? He is really, really good. And he's one of those quiet guys that just kick your ass. He's that guy. First team All-American, first team conference all region. And in 2021, Kev, Ryan was the North Region player of the year. He's a bad ass on defense, and St. Ay's has him. So those are those are a couple of guys. And one last one. A Peyton Farley from the Wingate Bulldogs. Yeah, okay. Dude, this guy's huge. 6'4, 220 pound. He had 32 ground balls, 25 cross turnovers, and two goals last year. He's from Tiger K, South Carolina. He was second team All-American last year, first team all sack, and he was all region. He's a big boy. He can run, he can play defense, he's fast for his size, he's tough, he's a a beast on the field. Um, couple of short stick D mids, too. I brought up.

SPEAKER_02 59:01

Showing them the love, just like me. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 59:03

Because they gotta get the love, the short stick D mid. My first one is Braden McCard, the senior from Mercyhurst. This kid is just ridiculous. Yeah. He might be one of the best in the country this year at the short stick D mid. Uh, 91 ground balls last year, 27 cost turnovers, 12 goals, and 15 assists. That's quite the season. Uh he's from Baldwin Field, New York, but he's only 5'10, 185. So, like, he's he's just an athletic kid, two-time first team All American, two-time first team all region, two-time All G Mac. And he was the short stick D mid of the year in 2022. So he's a boat, he's a handful, definitely a guy to watch. Another one, Colton McCracken from Lamore Rhine, the six-foot, 180-pound senior from Middletown Maryland, second team All-American, first team All ACC, first team all region. He had 35 ground balls, nine calls, turnovers, four assists, uh, four goals, and five assists. So Colton's a beast. He's tough out there. Another short stick D mid that. And he helps in transition too. Yeah, he's good, man. He's good. He's one of the better ones in the country. Uh, my last one is uh guy that doesn't get a whole lot of love because he's always on a team with a lot of superstars. Is uh Trent Conley, short stick D medie from Wingate University, 5'11, 200 pounds senior from Huntington, Maryland. He had 50 ground balls, 11 calls turnovers, one goal, one assist. He was uh he's been two-time third team All-American, quietly. He's one of those quiet guys that beat your ass. He's great in transition, uh, second team all region, yeah, and first team all SAC last year. So, Trent, he's a tough one. He's a really good athlete, just a sick athlete.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:00

All you said about every one of those short stick D middies, Danny, is they are so consistent. Yeah, those guys are good, man. They just they if they don't get a ground ball or a cause turnover, they're putting you where you don't want to be, so you can't make the shot.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:20

Yeah, on your ass. Yeah. No, they're just really good athletes, all three of them. Really smart. Yeah, you know, when I coached football, my best athlete was my defensive linebackers. They were always my best athletes. They were just smart, aggressive, athletic, you know, just knew all the stuff. And I feel like short stick D Mids are like your linebackers in football. They're, you know, although they're the first line of defense, they're just the athletes of the defenders, you know, and they they have to guard some really fast and and and usually the best, the the other team's best players, you know. So so and uh a couple of offensive guys in the middle, Mike McGarry's limestone, gotta watch him. 6'2, 200 pounds, first team All-American last year. Steinbeck comes back for Delphi, Kev. Yeah. 33 goals, 11 assists, 6'2, 190 pounds, second team All American, first team all region, first team all any 10. He's just a handful, and I think he's gonna be their guy to go to this year.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:28

I would agree with you.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:29

Another guy, guy that we grew up watching here, Kev, on this podcast. Nick Larson, the senior from St. A's. Oh, yeah, from Northboro, Massachusetts. Last year he was third team All American, first team all any 10. He's just a player on a really good team. He shares the rock. He had 18 goals and 22 assists. You know, he doesn't like need the ball to be a really effective player out there. So if you're playing St. A's and you're a defenseman, but have your eyes on Larson. He's gonna smoke you one way or the other. He's smart.

unknown 1:03:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:04

That high IQ. Uh, Mike Anderson from Wheeling. I like that kid, man. 56 goals in 15 games. He had two seven goal games last year, and he was first team all G Mac for wheeling. So we don't talk about wheeling a lot. And Mike, you get a big shout-out, man, because you had a really good year last year. And some young guns. We talked about Greg Palmer from St. Yeah, there you go. And you talked about Raiden Badron and Anderson. So those are my guys, Kev, to watch this year, just off the top of my head, not digging too deep, but guys that just have caught my eye and caught my attention.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:46

That's a great list. That's a great list. And that that was a great idea you had to just talk about some of the players preseason. We're gonna get into them during the season. Guys who are doing well, who helped their teams in in games.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:01

But this was I forgot to mention, I forgot to mention Eric George from Chowan. Oh, yeah. He he is coming back. Dude, this guy, let me tell you something. Year in and year out, this kid puts up big points. He put up 82 points last year. He's from Stony Plain, Alberta. He's a six foot three senior this year for Chowan. He had 55 goals and 27 assists. I mean, that kid's a baller, man. He was one of the top five scorers in the country last year. So I forgot to give you a shout out, too, Eric, because you're balling out. So we had guys from some Chowan guys and Wheeling and Chestnut Hill. That's great.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:44

That's great. And well deserved. We don't talk about them often. We get some of their games on here. Uh, and maybe hopefully we get those guys as we go through the season on the podcast. Yeah, that would be

Shout outs

SPEAKER_02 1:04:58

great. All right, Danny. It's time to close out. We got a few things to go over. The first thing I want to go over is in one day last week, we had several DMs come in from listeners. So I thought we could just give them a shout out for what they're doing for us. The first one is a uh Delphi player, Kyle Steinbach. As you remember, we thought he would, when we did their preview, we didn't think he was coming back. So he DM'd us to correct us on what he said and let us know that he's coming back. So we thank him for that correction. We needed that. Of course.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:40

Good man, Kyle.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:42

Coach Volpe then texted me and told me the same thing. So there you go. All right.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:48

We're gonna look forward to see Kyle play, man. He's definitely pieced out there.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:51

Okay, here's the next one. Ian Mack, who is a former player at Assumption, he sent us a note to let us know that Luke Jabber of Bentley is playing through. For Providence this year. Wow. Nice for him to do. We never had that question like, is he going to come back or not?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:06

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:06

Well, thanks, Ian. That's once again, we're we're getting smarter with our fans helping us out.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:13

That's awesome that they're DMing us and telling you know that they feel comfortable enough. Hey, we got to send them another chapter said Providence. Well, good for Luke, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:21

Yeah. Good school. Yep. All right, here's the next one. This is from a Tiffin commit, Jacob Zura. He reached out. Remember, we were talking about in the GMAC preview that two more teams next year are coming out. He wants to know, besides Davenport, who was joining the GMAC last year. Remember, Davenport's going from GLVC to the GMAC. And I was able to remember off the top of my head that it's Northwood, a school in Michigan, that's coming out and being part of the GMAC next year, a new program. So we appreciate you, Jacob, for reaching out and asking us a question and making me feel like I knew something. Jacob gets a shout out. All right. And oh, by the way, we got a DM that same day from a potential spot new sponsor for the season. So we'll let everyone know how that goes. But I think you and I are both excited for some more partnerships.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:13

Yeah, man. I'm excited for it. Yeah, it should be good.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:16

Okay. And I don't think I ever stated who the mom was who kept giving us good intel on what was going on at Davis and Elkins. So I thought I'd give her a shout-out. Thanks, Aaron Fulton, for keeping us knuckleheads in the know.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:27

All right, Aaron. Good job, girl.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:31

And finally, the final shout-out here is we received an email from Coach MacArthur of Florida Tech. He was listening to our preview of the Sunshine State Conference and sent us insights as to why he scheduled Tampa and Rollins twice. Remember you were asking that question. Why do they do that? Yep. He says it comes from his Canadian background and playing rivals multiple times per year. Plus, it allows them to get them where they want to be as a team and could create great lacrosse stories and rivalries if they also meet in the playoffs or the NCAAs.

unknown 1:08:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:07

So there's a met there's a method to max madness.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:12

And add in the fact that it does help with their budget travel, okay, from a budget travel standpoint, which I get. Right. He also gave us more info on his team because he he he's he apologized for not getting us information during when we asked for it. But I will say that for other teams to scout out instead of just bloating it all out here.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:33

MacArthur's got to run a lap. He's late. He's got to run a lap.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:37

He said, No excuse, will never happen again. That's exactly what he said to us.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:40

I'm like, yo, you still gotta run a lap. You still gotta run a lap. He's gotta pay the price.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:46

So there you go. Thanks to all our listeners for your engagement. We uh I think you agree with me. We love it, and it makes us smarter. It really does, it helps us out in this podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:57

Yeah, it's great, man. I love the fact that the people interact with us and they feel comfortable with us. Keep doing it, keep doing it, folks. Keep doing it.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:05

Okay, a couple more things to go over. First of all, some great lacrosse news, Danny. I think it came out late last week, and one we've been waiting and hoping for that is that the NCAA passed a proposal that for all sports in D2 other than football, automatic qualifiers have been granted. And that starts in 2025. That does deserve the deserve the bell.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:32

That deserves three bells. Automatic qualifiers. We knew it was kind of coming. We we didn't know no for sure, but we had heard through the grapevine that it was probably gonna come. And uh, you know what? Division two has as many, or if not more, than schools than division one. And why not be at automatic qualifiers at this point? I think it's a great move, and I I personally look forward to it. I do too. I do too, 100%.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:00

Okay, almost to the final here. We got a lot of things to go over. This one's interesting, Danny. I had saw something come out from this website called Feed Spot where they rank, they were talking about lacrosse podcasts, so I submitted ours as one. And they ranked the 15 best lacrosse podcasts, and they ranked them by traffic, social media, and something they call freshness. I'd love for them to sign define that better for me. And little old in the crease ranked number four out of 15.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:35

Number four, is that crazy? Number four out of 15. So we're the fourth most popular podcast. So I'm sure like uh like Inside Lacrosse, probably podcast. Okay, they have a podcast. All right, but they've been around for years and they have a little bit more resources than we do. And uh, and and uh just to be even mentioned with those big boys, I can't believe it. Again, two guys, two knuckleheads that never played the game, um, you know, doing something on a whim, and it now we're the fourth most popular. I don't like being fourth, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:15

One of our listeners said, We're gonna get you to number one.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:18

I said to do it because you you don't even meddle with fourth. You know, you at least want to meddle, right? You got to get the top three.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:26

Danny, trust me. I I I love like your competitive spirit. I was shocked we were at number four. It was so cool. That is crazy.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:33

Well, thank you, listeners. It's the listeners that are doing this, you know. It's them. It's them. So thank you, listeners. You got us in the fourth most popular lacrosse podcast in the country. Uh congratulations, Kevin.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:47

Right back at you. All right. Final shout out and thanks to our sponsor, Scorebreak, for their partnership through our conference previews and the top 20. Remember all the features you get with this platform, Danny. Airborne, which is their premier product for sideline replay, chat, tag boards, playlists, scorebreak handoff. That's their film breakdown service, recordable film sessions, live tagging, offline capabilities, and unlimited storage.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:21

Good one, Kev. Good one. You got me. They you're on you're on fire tonight, my they I'll tell you what.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:32

I all the things this product brings, this platform brings, coaches have got to give it a try.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:39

At least get a demo. We had a coach on just a couple of the just the other night, and his words verbatim. Oh my god, I love scorebreak.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:50

That's right. And that's from a D2 assistant coach. So that was his words, verbatim.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:57

Oh my god, how I love scorebreak.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:01

Pretty cool. So we really thank them for the partnership. We hope we can continue it going forward, but we really appreciate what they've done for us and sponsoring all of through the conference previews in the top 20.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:13

Kev, they've been a quality lacrosse partner.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:19

I just took a shot, Danny. Just took a shot for that one. That was for Coach Boyle. All right, Danny. Well, that kind of wraps it up for tonight. What do you say?

SPEAKER_01 1:13:28

Kev, this was a good one. Top 20 players to watch. Our shout outs, our first shout-outs for the 2024 season, getting up to number four in the popularity and lacrosse podcast. Hey, today's a good day, man. It is.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:42

With that, Danny, that's a wrap. That's a wrap, Kev.